A touch panel offers intuitive inputting for a computer or other data processing devices. It is especially useful in mobile devices where other input devices, such as keyboards and mice, are not easily available.
There are many different types of touch sensing technologies, including capacitive, resistive, infrared and surface acoustic wave. All of them only sense the position of touches on a panel, but cannot sense the force applied to the touch panel.
What is needed, therefore, is a touch panel which not only senses the position of the touch, but also senses the force applied thereto, and a touch screen using the touch panel.